Donald Trump: Disappearing middle class needs better deal on trade

The American worker is being crushed. Workplace participation for women has declined by more than 3 percentage points since 2000. The percentage of men in their prime working years without a job has nearly tripled since the late 1960s. Median annual household incomes are down more than $4,000 from the beginning of the century.

The great American middle class is disappearing.

One of the factors driving this economic devastation is America’s disastrous trade policies. Throughout history, at the center of any thriving country has been a thriving manufacturing sector. But under decades of failed leadership, the United States has gone from being the globe’s manufacturing powerhouse — the envy of the world — through a rapid deindustrialization that has evaporated entire communities.

The number of jobs and amount of wealth and income the United States have given way in so short a time is staggering, likely unprecedented.

And the situation is about to get drastically worse if the Trans-Pacific Partnership is not stopped. One of the first casualties of the TPP will be America’s auto industry, and among the worst victims of this pact will be the people of Ohio. The TPP will send America’s remaining auto jobs to Japan. Yet, Gov. John Kasich, Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. Marco Rubio have all promoted the Trans-Pacific Partnership — a mortal threat to American manufacturing.

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The TPP — a 12-nation pact — includes Vietnam, a country with vastly lower wages than the United States. Since there is a small market for U.S. goods in Vietnam, this will be an almost entirely one-sided arrangement as thousands of U.S. workers are laid off and production shipped to Vietnam instead.

An Economic Policy Institute (EPI) analysis found that Ohio has already lost more than 100,000 jobs to TPP countries. If the deal is enacted as Kasich has urged, those numbers will skyrocket.

TPP is the biggest betrayal in a long line of betrayals where politicians have sold out U.S. workers.

America’s politicians — beholden to global corporate interests who profit from offshoring — have enabled jobs theft in every imaginable way. They have tolerated foreign trade cheating while enacting trade deals that encourage companies to shift production overseas. In recent days, for instance, we have seen Carrier air conditioning lay off 1,400 workers and move to Mexico.

Since the North American Free Trade Agreement was signed in 1993, we’ve lost approximately 900,000 jobs to Mexico alone, pro-labor EPI found. Yet Gov. Kasich voted for NAFTA, just like he now supports TPP.

China has been one of the worst offenders. While promoting China's addition to the World Trade Organization in 2001, the U.S. agreed to permanently confer on China what is known as "most favored nation" trading status. EPI estimates that the United States has lost 3 million jobs to China since that decision was made.

Overall, since 1997 — driven by NAFTA and China — the U.S. has lost nearly one-third of its manufacturing jobs, EPI analysis shows. We’ve lost over 80,000 factories during that time.

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Countries like China and Japan devalue their currencies to put American companies at a structural disadvantage — making our goods artificially expensive and foreign goods artificially cheap. The result is that American companies can’t fairly compete against these countries, whether selling our products here or abroad.

At the same time, foreign countries heavily subsidize their products, and even engage in a tactic known as “product dumping” — where foreign competitors will dump huge quantities of underpriced goods into U.S. markets for the sole purpose of driving American factories out of business.

The deck is further stacked against American workers because foreign countries — which make billions selling to our markets — keep U.S. goods out of theirs. Japan, for instance, refuses to provide open access to U.S. car makers in Japanese dealerships. These non-tariff barriers make it impossible for American manufacturers to compete. TPP will fling our doors open to more Japanese cars while leaving their doors largely shut to ours.

When these manufacturing jobs disappear, the effect is widespread. When workers are forced to compete with low-wage countries like Mexico and China, it drives down wages across the economy.

Yet, the other candidates in this race — like Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio — have opposed efforts to stop foreign currency cheating, contributing to the deindustrialization that has wiped out middle-class wealth across the country.

I am the only candidate in this race who will bring our manufacturing jobs back. I have been warning for decades what would happen if we didn’t confront foreign trade cheating, and sadly, my fears have come to pass as the United States has seen its trade deficit in goods soar to $759.3 billion last year.

If we bring back these jobs, and close this trade deficit, we will create millions of jobs, boost government revenue, shrink our deficit, rebuild our infrastructure and communities, and send wages soaring upwards.

Under a Trump administration, we will finally stand up for American workers and make America great again.

Donald J. Trump is a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination.

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